Part 42 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXIX

THE WAY OUT

Respect for the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland has now taken such lodgment in the conscience of Europe that its violation would inevitably provoke a storm of indignation.

M. de Martens in the Revue des Deux Mondes.

On March 25, 1912, Honorable W. A. Jones, of Virginia, Chairman of the House Committee on Insular Affairs, introduced a resolution (H. J. 278) proposing the neutralization of the Philippines, to accompany his Philippine Independence Bill discussed in the preceding chapter. Such a resolution, accompanying such a bill, both introduced by one of the majority leaders in the House of Representatives, lifts the question of Philippine neutralization out of the region of the ”academic,”

and brings it forward as a thing which must, sooner or later, command the serious consideration both of Congress and the country. There have been many such resolutions before that of Mr. Jones. But they are all the same in principle. All contemplate our guaranteeing the Filipinos their independence until the treaties they propose shall be consummated. In 1911, there were at least nine such resolutions proposing neutralization of the Philippines, introduced by the following named gentlemen, the first a Republican, the rest Democrats:

Mr. McCall, of Ma.s.sachusetts; Mr. Cline, of Indiana; Mr. Sabath, of Illinois; Mr. Garner, of Texas; Mr. Peters, of Ma.s.sachusetts; Mr. Martin, of Colorado; Mr. Burgess, of Texas; Mr. Oldfield, of Arkansas; and Mr. Ferris, of Oklahoma.

Because the neutralization plan to provide against the Philippines being annexed by some other Power in case we ever give them their independence would, if successfully worked out, reduce by that much the possible area of war, and be a distinct step in the direction of universal peace, it is certainly worthy of careful consideration by the enlightened judgment of the Congress and the world.

Mr. McCall is the father of the neutralization idea, so far as the House of Representatives is concerned, application of it to the Philippines having been first suggested at the Universal Peace Conference of 1904, by Mr. Erving Winslow, of Boston. Mr. McCall has been introducing his neutralization resolution at every Congress for a number of Congresses past.

The McCall Resolution (H. J. Res. 107) is the oldest, and perhaps the simplest, of the various pending resolutions for the neutralization of the Philippines, and is typical of all. It reads:

JOINT RESOLUTION

Declaring the purpose of the United States to recognize the independence of the Filipino people as soon as a stable government can be established, and requesting the President to open negotiations for the neutralization of the Philippine Islands.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled:

That in accordance with the principles upon which its government is founded and which were again a.s.serted by it at the outbreak of the war with Spain, the United States declares that the Filipino people of right ought to be free and independent, and announces its purpose to recognize their independence as soon as a stable government, republican in form, can be established by them, and thereupon to transfer to such government all its rights in the Philippine Islands upon terms which shall be reasonable and just, and to leave the sovereignty and control of their country to the Filipino people.

Resolved, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, requested to open negotiations with such foreign Powers as in his opinion should be parties to the compact for the neutralization of the Philippine Islands by international agreement.

If the McCall Resolution, or any one of the kindred resolutions, were pa.s.sed, and complied with by the President of the United States, and accepted by the other Powers, and the Filipinos were helped to organize territorial governments such as Arizona and New Mexico were before they became States, several such territories could form the nucleus about which to begin to build at once, as indicated in the chapter on ”The Road to Autonomy.” A number of such territories could be made at once as completely autonomous as the governments of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico were before their admission to our Union. With those examples to emulate, together with the tingling of the general blood that would follow a promise of independence and a national life of their own, similar territorial governments could be successively organized, as indicated in the preceding chapter, throughout the archipelago. These could, in less than ten years, be fitted for admission to a federal union of autonomous territories, with the string of our sovereignty still tied to it, and an American Governor-General still over the whole, as now. And when the last island knocked for admission and was admitted, the string could be cut, and the Federal Union of Territories admitted, through our good offices, to the sisterhood of nations, as an independent Philippine republic. They would not bother the rest of the world any more than Belgium and Switzerland do, which are likewise protected by neutralization.

The idea of international neutralization is not without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity. It was born out of the downfall of Napoleon I. The Treaty of Paris of 1815 declared that

the neutrality and inviolability of Switzerland, as well as its independence of outside influences, are in conformity with the true interests of European politics.